Believe it or not..

I think I finally have internet. we'll see. I have been doing a lesser journal and have copied and pasted it to this post.
June 28, 2019

Well, since we don’t have wifi yet, I’m doing my blog with the intent to copy and paste whenever we do get it. Today, Friday, Rose, Steve and I went to Canyon--the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.. We did see some of the falls from the South rim, but that’s about all. It is really beautiful country, with so much to see. We ate at the diner style restaurant. It wasn’t as good as last weeks lunch, but they did have good milkshakes. On the way there we went through Hayden valley. Again, beautiful. We saw 2 female elk along the road, many, many bison and a male elk with his antlers in velvet. Rather dramatic, even at the distance. Also along the way, we stopped at a whitewater area along Yellowstone River with a glimse of Manequin ducks. And we skirted around Yellowstone Lake. All in all, a very nice day. I did drive some of the way, the first time I’ve driven a car in over 2 months. I didn’t forget how to do it.

Work is really crazy. We get really backed up, catching up just in time for the next rush. We have 2000 to 3000 folks coming through there daily. I’m amazed how patiently people wait in line. Many ask me if it’s always like this, Yes. and how do i manage to keep smiling. Mainly because i’m not washing dishes, running a grill, or frying stuff. All of that goes on behind me, but i just say that I’m expecting it. And besides that, I get to live in Yellowstone. I’ve met many people from PA at the Grill. The ones that live in western PA don’t know Lewisburg, I tell them about an hour drive above Harrisburg, but i have met some Bucknell Alumni as well as Penn State Alumni.

I went to a Open Mic at the employee Pub on Wednesday. It was nothing like the Mitchell’s Monday Night Mash-up, but it was entertaining. The sound was lousey and folks didn’t know to be quiet while the act is performing. All in all, it was better than nothing. I don’t mean that to be as negative as it sounds. There is music nightly at the Old Faithful Inn, but it’s only a piano, sometime with a stringed insturment and it is all very mellow. Also, if you aren’t very close, it’s hard to hear it. Not really my cup of tea.

Tonight is Friday Night Movie in the lounge. There’s usually about 12-15 people. Many folks bring snacks to share and it’s a nice social event. Dave, the guy that runs the show, will put up posters announcing the movie, rearrange the furniture and keep it moving. Nice guy. He’s been coming here for many, many years. Many of the people are repeat employees and know one another well.

We had a false alarm fire at about 11 PM the other day--Maybe Monday. It started in one of the guys rooms who was making Mexician Chicken in his crock pot. He thinks there may have been some grease that spilled over and caused the false alarm. He is getting alot of teasing as he is a chef at one of the restaurants. You would think he had enough cooking while at work. I guess not. It took about an hour to clear the residence and allow us to go back inside. Most of us went over the the Snow Lodge lobby to wait it out. We didn’t know at that time that it was his room that caused the problem.

July 1, 2019

Still no internet. This is really annoying everyone here. Phone service is also quite spotty. It is really frustrating. It’s probably all those damn tourist using up all the phone lines and whatever switch is broken on the wifi. Or so they tell us. The complaint line has stopped accepting calls, too. Cowards.

On Sunday, Rose and I took a hike with Mallard Lake as the destination. We originally thought it was 3 mles round trip, but actually was 3.5 miles one way. We started it anyway. Unfortunatley, we waited until 4:30 to start. About 7 pm, we still weren’t there, but enjoyed walking through the woods. We ran into some backpackers who were headed there and said they expected to get to the lake by 8 PM. about that time we decided to go back since we were running out of water and energy. That and the thought of walking home in the dark on a wooded path. Did I mention the lake was at the top of a mountain? Who puts a lake on top of a mountain? Anyway, we headed home, it only took about 1 ½ hours and we probably could have gotten to the lake and home before it got too dark. We did have our cell phones to use as flashlights. All in all, it was a fun adventure even if we didn’t get to the lake.

There are ranger led programs at the Visitors Center every night. I try to get to a few every week. Tonights program was about beavers. The presentation was fun because the ranger took a kid from the audience and did a “Build a Beaver” theme. It was describing a beaver, for example, they have a warm undercoat so she put a bathrobe on him. The to show a beaver has a waterproof coat, she put a ponco on him, and quite a bit more. It was quite entertaining and informative. There have been other topics such as ecology of the park, wolves, animal skat, although I didin’t see that one. All in all, it’s pretty entertaining. I think most of the audiance are employees.

Although i’m not much of a jigsaw puzzle enthusist, I do like starting them because i pick out the edge pieces and get the outling. We started a puzzle here a few days ago that was actually pretty involved because there was not picture of the finished product, just bits and pieces of the picture. I helped out starting it, but then left it for a few days. Later in the week, I was bored and wandered into the puzzle room and there were only about 30 pieces left so I was able to finish the puzzle. I am now saying that I started the puzzle and finished it. All the good puzzle solvers are enjoying the joke of it.

Because we have so many employees at the Geyser Grill, we are getting additional days off. I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, which is very nice. Rose and I are planning what to do for the 2 days we have off together. If nothing else, we’ll go to West Yellowstone to use the internet at McDonalds. She is also willing to lend me her car whenever I want to use it.

July 4th
Whoopie, we have internet. It's as slow as molasses, but it's here.

Things are really crazy at work. We have lost 3 different assistant managers, and now our manager quit, no notice. He actually left the park before his boss received his termination letter. I'm only hearing rumors, because god forbid we are told anything substantial. Today was suppose to be a slow day, but it wasn't. I ran my register for 6 solid hours with minor breaks for bathroom and a drink. I was so sick of smiling and being nice. Thank goodness that most of the customers are nice. I did have one really annoying customer where I almost lost it. I almost always read the order back, and I did in her case. Then after it was rung up and delivered, she decided that I missed her soda order. I wanted to say, "what part of with no soda did you miss when I read your order back to you?" It also is displayed where they can see it. but I didn't say anything.

I have a new suite mate. A 20 something woman named Lora from Italy. About this time of year we get a real influx of international students, most from Taiwan, but a lot of European Students, too. She's only been here 2 days, so I don't have much details about her yet. Poor thing, she is trying to adjust to the time difference, 8 hours, the altitude and the strangeness of this place. She had the same complaint I had, all the building are brown.

I guess that about it. I'll try adding photos, but who really knows how that will work out. If you don't see any, it didn't work out.